Retired army general Petr Pavel narrowly defeated populist billionaire Andrej Babis in the first round of the Czech presidential election to set up a run-off vote between the political newcomer and the former prime minister.

Mr Pavel and Mr Babis advanced to a second round of voting because none of the eight candidates seeking the country’s largely ceremonial presidency received a majority of votes in the initial round, which was held on Friday and Saturday.

With the ballots from 99.9% of the polling stations counted by the Czech statistics office, Mr Pavel had 35.39% of the vote compared with 35.00% for Babis.

“It’s such a close result that I can already see the hard work for us ahead of the second round,” Mr Pavel said. “Every vote will count.”

Mr Pavel is a former chairman of Nato’s military committee, the alliance’s highest military body.

He fully endorsed the country’s military and humanitarian support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia and sees the Czech Republic’s future linked to membership in the European Union and Nato.

Mr Babis said he was delighted with the result, which was more than the 27.1% that his centrist ANO (Yes) movement received in the 2021 general election.

“It’s absolutely great,” he said.

Mr Babis congratulated Mr Pavel on his victory, but immediately went on the attack against his opponent.

“I don’t understand why he’s running,” he said, stressing Mr Pavel’s past as a soldier and a Communist Party member.

The Slovakia-born Mr Babis was, however, a member of the Communist Party before the 1989 Velvet Revolution that brought in democracy and faces accusations of co-operating with the communist-era secret police in his native country.

Another of Mr Babis’ challengers, Danuse Nerudova, who was rector of Mendel University in Brno, finished third with 13.9%, while conservative former diplomat Pavel Fischer was fourth with 6.8%.

Both Nerudova and Fischer pledged support for Mr Pavel in the run-off in two weeks.

Czechs are picking a successor to Milos Zeman whose second and final term expires in March.

Voter turnout was 68.2%, more than 61.9% in the previous 2018 vote.

Under the Czech Constitution, the president picks the prime minister after a general election, one of the office’s key responsibilities.

The president also appoints members of the Central Bank board and selects Constitutional Court judges with the approval of Parliament’s upper house.

Otherwise, the president has little executive power since the country is run by a government chosen and led by the prime minister.

Babis, 68, was acquitted this week in a fraud trial, which boosted his chances in the election.